Northampton land cover change 2001-2021

Author

Kent Johnson

Introduction

This report uses data from the National Land Coverage Database (NLCD) to summarize land cover changes in Northampton, Mass. from 2001 to 2021.

NLCD data was obtained from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. An interactive viewer for the underlying data is available here.

The NLCD provides data on land cover and land cover change at 30 meter resolution. Each 30m square is classified into one of 16 land coverage categories. Data releases every two-to-three years, from 2001 to 2021, allow monitoring land cover changes at the resolution of the data.

For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. See the land cover table below for details.

Land cover in Northampton

These tables and charts show land cover change for the City as a whole.

Land cover totals

The first table shows land cover for the City in acres and as a percent of total area, and the change in acreage from 2001 to 2021. The “Percent change” column is the change in acreage as a percent of acreage, not the change in percent of total acres.

Northampton is nearly half forested land and more than one quarter developed land. The changes is forested and developed land are relatively small compared to the total number of acres.

Land Cover Acres in Northampton, 2001-2021
2001 2021 Change Percent Change
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres
Forest 10,853 47% 10,646 47% -207 -2%
Developed 5,966 26% 6,181 27% 215 4%
Water/Wetland 3,437 15% 3,423 15% -14 0%
Cultivated 2,496 11% 2,404 11% -92 -4%
Herbaceous/Shrub 81 0% 155 1% 74 91%
Barren 49 0% 72 0% 23 47%
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Land cover change

This chart shows land cover change in acres since 2001.

  • Developed land has increased by 215 acres.
  • Forested land has decreased by 207 acres.
  • There has been a loss of cultivated land and an increase in herbaceous and shrub land and barren land.

The chart above gives the impression that forest land has been developed and cultivated land has gone to herbaceous and shrub. The actual situation is not that simple.

The sankey diagram below gives a more nuanced view, showing the “from” and “to” flow of land cover change. It shows that some loss of forest land is due to development, but some forest land has also changed to herbaceous/shrub. Most of the lost cultivated land has been developed but some has been re-categorized as barren and small amounts changed to forest, herbaceous/shrub and wetland.

This table shows the numbers underlying the right side of the sankey diagram above. For acres that changed classification from 2001 to 2021, it shows the number of acres for each new classification.

Land cover change in Northampton, 2001-2021
Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2021 category
2001 Category 2021 Category
Developed Herbaceous/Shrub Barren Forest Cultivated Water/Wetland
Forest 145 80 3 0 8 1
Cultivated 54 6 32 14 0 3
Herbaceous/Shrub 5 0 0 14 3 0
Barren 8 4 0 0 0 0
Water/Wetland 4 7 0 1 5 0
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

The map below shows where the land cover classification changed from forest in 2001 to something other than forest in 2021. The changed areas are colored to show the 2021 classification.

A separate layer shows where the classification changed from cultivated in 2001 to something other than cultivated in 2021.


Land cover by zoning category

These tabs show land cover change within zoning categories. The categories aggregate the City zoning districts.

The maps show the zoning districts in grey and the areas of lost forest cover in red.

Rural zones include zoning districts FFR, RR and SC.

Land Cover Acres in Rural zones, 2001-2021
2001 2021 Change Percent Change
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres
Forest 6,311 50% 6,276 49% -35 -1%
Water/Wetland 2,977 23% 2,966 23% -11 0%
Cultivated 1,987 16% 1,915 15% -72 -4%
Developed 1,349 11% 1,412 11% 63 5%
Herbaceous/Shrub 47 0% 74 1% 27 57%
Barren 11 0% 39 0% 28 255%
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Land cover change in Rural zones, 2001-2021
Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2021 category
2001 Category 2021 Category
Developed Barren Herbaceous/Shrub Forest Cultivated Water/Wetland
Cultivated 41 29 2 9 0 2
Forest 26 0 24 0 4 1
Water/Wetland 1 0 7 1 5 0
Herbaceous/Shrub 0 0 0 3 3 0
Barren 1 0 1 0 0 0
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Suburban residential includes zoning districts SR and WSP.

Land Cover Acres in Suburban/Water supply zones, 2001-2021
2001 2021 Change Percent Change
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres
Forest 4,056 63% 3,936 61% -120 -3%
Developed 1,520 24% 1,609 25% 89 6%
Cultivated 437 7% 423 7% -14 -3%
Water/Wetland 370 6% 370 6% 0 0%
Herbaceous/Shrub 29 0% 77 1% 48 166%
Barren 22 0% 19 0% -3 -14%
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Land cover change in Suburban/Water supply zones, 2001-2021
Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2021 category
2001 Category 2021 Category
Developed Herbaceous/Shrub Forest Cultivated Barren Water/Wetland
Forest 80 55 0 5 2 0
Herbaceous/Shrub 2 0 12 0 0 0
Cultivated 8 4 5 0 2 1
Barren 3 4 0 0 0 0
Water/Wetland 0 0 0 0 0 0
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Urban residential includes zoning districts URA, URB and URC.

Land Cover Acres in Urban zones, 2001-2021
2001 2021 Change Percent Change
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres
Developed 2,207 85% 2,222 85% 15 1%
Forest 290 11% 274 11% -16 -6%
Water/Wetland 51 2% 51 2% 0 0%
Cultivated 49 2% 49 2% 0 0%
Barren 4 0% 5 0% 1 25%
Herbaceous/Shrub 1 0% 1 0% 0 0%
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Land cover change in Urban zones, 2001-2021
Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2021 category
2001 Category 2021 Category
Developed Barren Herbaceous/Shrub
Forest 16 1 0
Cultivated 0 0 0
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Business/industrial includes zoning districts GB, GI, HB, M, NB, OI and PV.

Land Cover Acres in Business/industrial zones, 2001-2021
2001 2021 Change Percent Change
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres
Developed 646 70% 694 76% 48 7%
Forest 193 21% 159 17% -34 -18%
Water/Wetland 41 4% 38 4% -3 -7%
Cultivated 22 2% 16 2% -6 -27%
Barren 13 1% 9 1% -4 -31%
Herbaceous/Shrub 3 0% 3 0% 0 0%
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Land cover change in Business/industrial zones, 2001-2021
Change in acres from 2001 land cover category to 2021 category
2001 Category 2021 Category
Developed Herbaceous/Shrub Barren
Forest 33 2 0
Cultivated 5 0 1
Barren 5 0 0
Water/Wetland 3 0 0
Herbaceous/Shrub 3 0 0
Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson

Central business zones include zoning districts CBc, CBg, CBs, FVc and FVg.

These zones consist entirely of developed land; there is no change between 2001 and 2021.

Land cover classes

For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. This table shows the land cover categories in the NLCD and the consolidated classes to which they have been assigned. Detailed descriptions of the NLCD categories are available here.

Reporting classes for NLCD categories
NLCD category
Developed Developed, Open Space
Developed, Low Intensity
Developed, Medium Intensity
Developed, High Intensity
Forest Deciduous Forest
Evergreen Forest
Mixed Forest
Cultivated Hay/Pasture
Cultivated Crops
Water/Wetland Open Water
Woody Wetlands
Emergent Herbaceuous Wetlands
Herbaceous/Shrub Shrub/Scrub
Herbaceuous
Barren Unclassified
Perennial Snow/Ice
Barren Land

Zoning map

This map shows the Northampton zoning categories as aggregated for this report.

Copyright 2023 Kent S Johnson Creative Commons License 2023-12-20